In the fall, Grant had a training trip to DC, and I decided to go with him. Originally, I thought I would let him go on his own and I would stay home and keep Scarlett company, but following our return to Serbia after our late-summer R&R, I was bumming hard. R&R was great. We spent a lot of time with family, at the beach, and with some of my best friends. Then we returned to Belgrade, where it was great to be reunited with Scarlett, but for the first time since arriving in May 2013, I was fighting a losing battle with homesickness.

Grant was super busy with bidding, and a number of the friendships I had begun during the summer in hopes of having some friends I could actually hang out with seemed to fizzle for various reasons (such as an early departure from post). Plus we had neither upcoming visitors nor a trip planned for me to look forward to. So I decided that spending the beginning of November in the States would be just the thing.

And boy was it ever! It was one great ethnic/pizza meal after another. We got to see my mother-in-law, both my parents, three of my siblings, and two of my high school friends. We celebrated a lot of birthdays, and I enjoyed spending time working in DC-area coffee shops when Grant was in training. Plus we went to our first NBA game! Life is short, so when we have an opportunity to spend time with the people who are important to us, we need to just do it.

we made the trek up to 2 Amy’s, our favorite pizzeria, and had a fantastic dinner